Southern Bread

Think filibustering is just a technique used on the floor of the Senate? Not so. Harry Reid breaks it out here, but in a different variation that is often used by politicians in interviews. David Kramer posted this over at LRC. This is a classic example of the way all politicians do their thing:

I love this video because it shows clearly how a politician manipulates speech to mislead the audience. Here’s how this technique works. Obviously, every single viewer of this clip knows exactly what the question is, and knows exactly what the interviewer means by the word “voluntary.” And so does Harry Reid. But, he acts like he has a dispute with the way the interviewer is defining the word “voluntary” and wants to redefine it in some totally non-standard definition. He then keeps steamrolling the interviewer long enough by saying different variations of the same statement over and over. After a minute or so of this filibustering, the idea is that he has established the perception that he is confident in his position. He’s then safe to pull out the “I don’t understand your question” ruse. At this point, the interviewer explains again, clearly, what he is asking. But the technique is done then, because the perception has been established that the interviewer, by having to re-ask the question again and again is somehow making an obscure, complicated point, while the politician is just baffled that the interviewer can’t see how simple the answer is. These people make me sick.